Parking???

Parking is scant to non-existent in Munich. I have personally seen few cities where having a car is such an unnecessary complication. Forget about fitting a van anywhere.

I briefly visited St. Goar two days ago by car by taking a brief detour from the main autobahn route that runs parallel to the Rhine gorge. Parking was ample along the river bank, but of course, this was a weekday morning in April. I couldn´t say how typical this is for the Rhine towns in general. To reach St. Goar, you have to descend down a very narrow, winding road. Even though it looks close on the map, in actual driving time it took more than 30 minutes in each direction. Seems like a very slow, inefficient method of travel along the Rhine.

Although I haven´t visited there personally, from others I have heard that there is virtually no parking in the Cinque Terre.

Gas in Germany is running about $8 a gallon right now and expected to go up even more.

Think about trains instead perhaps? Add in your rental costs for multiple countries, the fuel, parking costs, etc. and compare costs.

Re: Cinque Terre. There are a couple of small parking lots near Riomaggiore and Monterosso but it's easier to find parking in Levanto (just north of CT) and hop onto the local train, which stops at every CT town.

It would be very easy for an American to under-estimate the challenges of finding overnight parking, let alone secure overnight parking, in Rome, Florence and the Cinque Terre. More than one traveler, not experienced in driving in Italy, have been blind-sided by the overnight parking challenge in these 3 locations.

A common, and erroneous assumption, that has gotten some into trouble is something along the following lines: "Florence is a big city, of course there will be overnight parking." That would be correct for the US and Canada.

From your description, it sounds like you and your friends have never traveled overseas before. As others have already said, parking will be a headache, a nightmare or simply impossible in a lot of the places you're thinking about. Aside from the parking troubles, you really do not want to drive in many of these places, either. I would suggest re-evaluating your plan and consider trains - most of the place you mention are much better when done via train.

Finally, you could be wasting half your time and money by returning back to Paris. Fly open jaws (in to Paris and out from Milan or wherever your trip ends), save a lot of money and have more time to spend enjoying Europe.

All of these places are serviced by trains which will make your life a WHOLE lot simpler. I agree with a previous poster who said it sounded as if this might be your first time. Rental cars can offer some degree of freedom but can also be laced with unforseen problems that could be like a boat anchor around your neck. I should know because I've had a couple of those boat anchors in the past. I always do trains these days.

If you have to use public parking spaces/lots it can be very expensive eg 20 euro and upwards per day.

One thing you could do is to try to find hotels in the towns you're planning to stay in that offer reservable guest parking. I think some of the hotel search engines have that as a searchable feature.

My family picked up a car in Amsterdam, drove through southern Germany, western Austria and northern Italy before returning the car in Rome.

Munich is easy, follow the signs to the center of the city, then follow the parking signs. We parked underground adjacent to the Marienplatz.

Florence was a little more difficult. We found an underground parking lot a little under a mile north of the center. In Florence you need to be very careful to avoid the zone of limited traffic (local traffic only). If you drive into a ZTL, a camera will photograph your license plate and you'll receive a ticket a few months after you get back. A GPS will show you where the parking lots are. I don't know if a GPS will keep you out of the ZTL.

We returned our car before flying home out of Rome, so planned not to need parking there.

Carly,

There are people here who are very anti-driving. I am not one of them. In some situations, driving is a very reasonable option.

BUT.....

Never ever ever drive into a big European city and plan to park the car for days. That's just (what's a more polite word for stupid?).

Renting a van will cost 3x the price of a small car. Putting gas into it could cost $200 each time you fill up. Expect motorways to be toll roads. Parking will cost money, too. So if you were planning on driving as a cost saving measure, trust me, it isn't.

If you only pay full price for rail tickets, driving vs. rail might come out almost even. But there are many, many ways to save 70% on rail tickets if you do some research, which can mean rail would be significantly cheaper, sometimes faster, certainly safer, more relaxing and more convenient than driving when your destination is a major city.

Having said all that, the one circumstance when driving does make sense is when you are planning to spend a block of days in rural areas & small towns where driving and parking are easier and places are not always serviced well by public transport.

The main thing to keep in mind is that "road tripping" in Europe is TOTALLY different than in the US. Don't make plans based on the assumption that it will be similar.